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Speaker at the conference was a different EFSA scientist as originally announced

18 August 2017 / This morning Testbiotech reported that Jose Tarazona from the European Food Safety Authority EFSA had taken part in a conference in the USA, which according to the wording of available documents, was funded by Monsanto. According to the original conference program, he was taking part in his official role as a leading EFSA executive and disputed that the herbicide glyphosate marketed by Monsanto is carcinogenic. His presentation was, according to the original conference program, sponsored by a British scientist, Allister Vale.

A number of emails published by US consumer attorneys show how Monsanto is secretly influencing European scientists behind the scenes in order to have their herbicide glyphosate declared as being non-carcinogenic. It seems that payments by Monsanto can be traced to a leading expert at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): It is likely that Jose Tarazona, head of the Pesticide Unit at EFSA, was funded by Monsanto for his participation at a conference in the US in 2017. According to available information, it can be assumed that the funding was channelled via a British toxicologist.

Salmon being used to explore marketing potential of other genetically engineered fish/animal products

8 August 2017/ According to information provided by AquaBounty, a subsidiary of the US company Intrexon, 4.5 tonnes of their genetically engineered salmon have already been sold on the Canadian food market. The distribution channels, however, remain unclear since no information was provided and labelling of the salmon was not required. Testbiotech is warning that the free trade agreement CETA could pave the way not only for genetically engineered salmon, but also for meat from the offspring of cloned bulls.

Plants are resistant to a cocktail of herbicides known to be harmful to human health

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

The German government recently abstained in a vote on allowing EU imports of genetically engineered plants; and thereby effectively smoothed the way for the business interests of Bayer and Dow AgroSciences. These companies want the EU to approve two new genetically engineered soybeans for import and usage in food and feed. Both these new soybean plants have been engineered to be resistant to three herbicides known to leave residues in the harvest. According to the data available, consumption of the soybeans is likely to pose health risks.